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Great River

Arboretum Grows With Tycoon's Care

Beginnings: This small residential community has its roots in the 1840s, when Erastus Youngs and his family began building and repairing boats on the west shore of the Connetquot River near Great South Bay. With hardly anyone else around, the place was called Youngsport for 30 years. Alva Vanderbilt, the Oakdale socialite, bought the Youngs property later and gave it to a Brooklyn church, which used it as a summer camp for city children.

Turning Point: With the arrival of the railroad in 1868 at adjacent Oakdale, and the start of the Oakdale estate era, the name was changed to Great River. Most of the tycoons who built nearby in the late 19th Century belonged to the Southside Sportsmen's Club, which had a private rail stop called ``The Club'' at Great River. The first Great River rail depot went up in 1897.

Claims to Fame: In 1886, William Bayard Cutting, financier, lawyer and railroad baron, built a huge Tudor-style mansion he called Westbrook on what is now Montauk Highway. His tycoon pal William K. Vanderbilt had built the Idle Hour mansion on the east side of the river only four years earlier. The Cutting estate totaled 931 acres, including a golf course, and the mansion had 22 fireplaces, rich dark paneling brought from England, some of it now 400 years old, and exquisite stained-glass windows by famed jeweler Charles Tiffany, another member of the Southside club. More importantly, perhaps, Cutting brought trees and shrubs from around the world to create a magnificent arboretum. He died in 1912. His family left the mansion and arboretum to the state and they were opened to the public in 1954. At the mouth of the river is a large tract called Timber Point, once a farm of Islip Town founder William Nicoll in the 17th Century. Timber Point later became an estate and is now the site of a private country club.

Where to Find More: ``Bayard Cutting Arboretum History,'' published by Long Island State Park and Recreation Commission, 1984; Long Island Forum articles and ``East of Islip,'' by the Friends of the East Islip Library, 1969, at East Islip Library.